


Not Exactly Father’s Day

by MurdockSchmurdock



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Father's Day, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Mentor/Protégé, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Beta Read, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 10:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24848464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurdockSchmurdock/pseuds/MurdockSchmurdock
Summary: Tony was totally joking when he said he wanted a #1 Dad mug. Right? Right????Father’s Day fic in which Peter is a mess and Tony is trying his best
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 25
Kudos: 254





	1. haha...unless...

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  
> Alright, things have been fixed, Insta is linked, and chapter two with art will be up tomorrow!  
> I FIXED THE WEDNESDAY THING OK PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY CHRONIC DUMBASS DISEASE

It was just a joke. A simple gag.

Something stupid Tony said to get a giggle out of him when they cruised past the bodega proudly displaying a massive “Father’s Day Sale!” sign.

He didn’t actually want one of those “#1 Dad” mugs. Right?

Peter spent the rest of their short drive to the Tower rolling the words over in his head and taking the occasional sip from the massive chocolate milkshake Tony had insisted on getting him. His uncharacteristic silence wasn’t going unnoticed,however.

“Whatcha thinking about, bud?” His mentor asked calmly, in stark contrast to the likely illegal way he whipped around a truck going the actual speed limit. 

“Huh?” Peter replied.

“You just seem a little distracted is all,” Tony said, glancing over at him,”Usually you’re a hell of a lot more chattery.”

“Oh sorry, just hungry I guess.” The teen shoved a handful of fries into his mouth to prove his point. There were a lot more than he was anticipating though, and Tony snorted as Peter struggled with the fries still hanging from his mouth.

“Whatever you say, kid. Just don’t get grease all over my car.” He grinned. Peter nodded vigorously, which only served to drop more fries into his lap. Great.

By the time they screeched into the private garage below Stark Tower, he was having some serious regrets about finishing his after school snack. Not that it wasn’t delicious, but he generally didn’t like it the second time around, and food tended to make reappearances when you were a passenger in one of Tony Stark’s cars.

Peter stumbled out the door and into the garage, grateful for the fresh air. His mentor exited as well, grabbing the kid’s book bag from the back seat as he did.

“Come on, I’m not that bad of a driver.” He drawled, sauntering around the front of the car to toss the bag at the teen.

“I think I might die, Mr. Stark,” Peter whined in response, easily catching the bag with one hand. “Or at least throw up.” Tony rolled his eyes.

“Well, at least do it out here. I don’t feel like cleaning spider-vomit out of my elevator.” He sniffed, and with a beep the car locked and he began strolling towards the elevator. Peter shouldered his bag and ran to catch up with the man, already back to chattering away, Father’s Day momentarily forgotten.

* * *

“Okay, so you see that wire right there?” Tony said, lightly poking a pair of tweezers at the thin red wire he had pulled loosely from the back of the arc reactor before him.”Can you tell me what’s wrong with it?” Peter squinted at it, tilting his head in concentration.

“Uhhh, it’s, not in the reactor?” he guessed. His mentor rolled his eyes.

“Other than that. C’mon, Pete, use that big brain of yours.” Tony encouraged.

The teen went back to squinting, but quickly gave up and leaned back in defeat.

“I don’t know, is it too close to the vacuum?” He tried. The billionaire shook his head and gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder.

“Close! But not quite. But don’t worry, I’ll tell you.” He assured, gesturing for Peter to lean closer. With a flick of his wrist, the power was restored and the reactor flickered to life. Peter’s eyes widened as the rubber exterior of the wire tore and blackened. It was quickly turned off, but faint trails of smoke still wafted from the device.

“Oh boy.” he murmured, and his mentor barked a laugh.

“Oh boy is right. Basically, the dielectric was not up to par for the amount of energy from the reactor current, so the shields and covering didn’t stand a chance.” Tony explained, carefully removing the back plate to expose the innards of the reactor. The teen followed his hands as they moved over the wiring and copper coils, listening intently to his instruction. “Run it any longer than that, and it’d eat through the insulation entirely, and eventually rupture the vacuum vessel. That’s where you almost had it. In a normal fusion reactor, you’d get a nasty hydrogen explosion, but arc reactors function a bit differently, so you’d just have a bowling ball sized hole in your chest.”

“Whoah, good thing you noticed, then.” Peter remarked, pulling up the schematics on the screen above the reactor.

“Yeah, well this is a lesson on proper sleeping habits as well as engineering.” The man admitted, sounding a bit sheepish. “I may or may not have had a few sleepless nights before working on this one, and might have grabbed the wrong wire. Which, for the record, I usually don’t do.” He shot Peter a glare when the boy snickered under his breath.

“Uh-huh, sure you don’t.” Peter chuckled.

“Uh-uh, nope, you don’t laugh at the person who buys you milkshakes and makes sure you don’t die every night.” Tony huffed. “Just for that, you get to rewire this thing as your next project.”

“What? Come on, Mr. Stark, that’s no fun!” Peter whined, looking imploringly at his mentor. 

“I know you, you’ll find a way to enjoy it,” Tony scoffed, then grimaced as his phone began buzzing on the table. “Aw shi- er, shoot, I gotta take this. The good wires are in D-413, ask FRIDAY if you need any help.” Peter hopped up from his bench and pulled open the drawer in question. 

“Mr. Stark? There isn’t anything in here.” he said, looking over at the man questioningly. 

“That actually explains a lot. Just go ahead and buy some more, it’s all in the specs. I’ll be back in a bit.” Tony called over his shoulder, before slipping out into the hallway. 

Peter sighed and resigned himself to the assignment. It only took him a few minutes to read over the design and locate the needed wires, all he had to do was order them.

“Hey, FRIDAY, could you pull up some of these?” He asked, tapping the projection of the wire, and holding his breath that they wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.

“Of course, Peter.” the AI replied, and the reactor schematics disappeared, replaced by numerous ads for wires in a variety of colors and sizes. Apparently he hadn’t read the diagram well enough. But before he could refine his search, a small banner advertising Father’s Day gifts caught his eye, bringing him right back to the dilemma he had been facing earlier that afternoon.

The way he saw it, there were two possibilities.

One, that Tony had really just been joking about wanting a Father’s Day gift, which was the most likely option to him. And if, hypothetically of course, Peter did get him something, it would just be weird, and Tony probably wouldn’t even like it.

Two, that he was being serious, and maybe, possibly, actually did want Peter to get him something for Father’s Day. 

But that was just crazy, right? He was Tony Stark, known Genius, Billionaire, ex-Playboy, Philanthropist, and his super cool mentor, but definitely not his, his dad. Even if he did kind of act like it sometimes. And Peter occasionally caught himself thinking about that. And accidentally almost called him ‘dad’ once. 

Though, if he was being serious, and Peter didn’t do anything… Would he be disappointed? A disappointed Tony almost seemed worse than a weirded out Tony. And… still hypothetically, if he did get him something, and he was weirded out, Peter could just play it off as a joke, right? He was getting dangerously close to clicking on that ad. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to look, just for a second.

Glancing around to double check that he was the sole occupant of the workshop, Peter tapped the link. Immediately, the wires vanished, and images of shirts, cards, and various other gifts popped up in their place. Well, Tony had initially made a joke about that mug, so if Peter were to get him something, he should start there.

He scrolled through the site, waving his favorites to float off on the side. Some of them were actually really funny, but he kept coming back around to the ‘#1 Dad’ coffee mug. It was a little, well, obvious, yet something about it just stuck out to Peter. He was so absorbed in his shopping that he didn’t notice the squeaking of the workshop doors opening.

“Tony? Are you- oh! Hello Peter.” Pepper grinned. The boy gave a rather undignified squawk and frantically swiped away the screens.

“H-hey Ms. Potts! How are you?” he squeaked, doing his best to seem casual as he faced her. 

“I’m doing well, how are you?” she replied, looking bemusedly at the teen. There was no way she hadn’t noticed what he had been doing, but if she had, she certainly wasn’t letting on.

“I’m fine! Just, uh, working on something for Mr. Stark.” He answered, gesturing to the failed arc reactor.

“Speaking of, have you seen Tony? I needed to ask him for something real quick,but FRIDAY said he couldn’t be reached.” Pepper mused. 

“Uh, I can try and find him, if you want.” Peter offered. At the CEO’s nod, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the sounds of the building. Under the constant hum of the Tower, he could pick out the churning of machines, hushed voices, and a hundred pairs of shoes roaming around. He couldn’t hear Tony’s voice, but just barely he could… there!

“Any luck?” He opened his eyes at Pepper’s prompting and grinned sheepishly. It probably looked real weird when he did that.

“Oh, yeah! He’s two floors beneath us, I think in a soundproof room since he’s on a phone call.” he reported. 

“That’s really impressive, Peter. How could you even tell?” Pepper wondered, giving him an approving smile.

“Well, I couldn’t actually hear him talking or anything, but I could kind of hear or feel the vibrations as he paced? I’m not really sure, but he’s close enough that I should be able to hear him easily, so I figured the room was soundproof.” The boy shrugged, scuffing the floor with his shoe.

“You are a lifesaver. I never would’ve found him.” She sighed, and smiled once more as she turned to leave. “See you later, Peter.”

“Bye Miss Potts!” Peter called after her. As soon as he was sure she had left, he pulled the mugs back up. Better get this over with.

He quickly settled on a few of his favorite options, and had FRIDAY send the links to his phone. In the nick of time, too, Tony strolled back into the workshop right as he placed the order for custom blue reactor-grade wires.

“Sorry about that, kiddo, what’d I miss?” He grinned, and Peter launched into an explanation of his ideas for the rewired reactor.

* * *

“Tony, do you have any plans for Sunday?”

“Yeah, I think I’m hanging out with the kid that afternoon, he's having some sort of coffee date with his friends in the morning.” The man replied, reaching for his tea with the hand that wasn’t scrolling through an article on advances in turbine energy.

“Well, it is Father’s Day.” Pepper remarked. Tony glanced up from the tablet to where his fiance sat beside him on the couch.

“And what does that have to do with anything?” he asked. Pepper shrugged nonchalantly.

“Oh, nothing much. But I think Peter is doing something for it.” She said. 

“Huh. If he’s busy we can always reschedule, he comes over Wednesday anyway.” Tony sniffed, taking a sip from the mug. Hopefully his disappointment wasn’t too obvious.

“No, doing something for you, dear.” His fiance rolled her eyes. Tony choked on his tea, spluttering as it came out his nose, and turned to face her incredulously.

“I, what, why? I’m not, I’m not his dad! What makes you think he’s even doing anything?”

That wasn’t right. Sure he liked the kid a lot, but he certainly wasn’t cut out for that kind of thing. Howard “made of iron” Stark certainly wasn’t a great fatherly influence on him, and he’d be damned if he was gonna pass that on to Peter. Not that the kid would even want him to fill that role in his life anyway. He already had his own dad and uncle. and even if they were gone now, Tony would never presume on such a thing.

“Well, I walked into the workshop earlier and found him looking at gifts. I think I scared him, bless his heart, but I pretended not to have noticed anything.” Pepper chuckled.

“So? He could’ve been looking at gifts for anybody.” The billionaire continued to protest.

“Tony. At least one thing had an Iron Man helmet on it.” His fiancé sighed. He furrowed his brows and stared into his now undrinkable tea. Frankly he was having a hard time wrapping his head around it.

“Kinda ruined the surprise. Kid isn’t gonna like that.” He mumbled after a bit.

“ I didn’t tell you what he was getting you, did I?” Pepper replied, “I’m just giving you a heads up so you can come up with a better response.”

“What? My response was perfectly fine!” Tony scoffed. Pepper just rolled her eyes.

“Dear, you just spit out your tea, yelled at me, and then didn’t speak for five minutes.”

“It wasn’t that long,” he grumbled, looking away as she planted a quick kiss on his cheek,” and I didn’t yell.” Pepper stood from the couch, collecting the mugs and giving him a knowing look.

“Of course you didn’t, Tony. I’m heading to bed, but I’ll let you stew on that for a bit. Don’t be too long.” She said with a smile, then deposited the glasses in the kitchen and made her way back to their room.

“Goodnight honey!” He called after her, then set his tablet to the side and stared out the window at the city as he tried not to freak out. But Pepper was right, and he knew Peter well enough to know exactly how the kid would react if he completely shut down over a gift. And how much the brat was freaking out right now, if he was truly going to go through with it. The last thing he wanted was to ruin the mentor-mentee thing they had going on. Making Peter comfortable with whatever he was planning had to be top priority. Soon enough, he was forming his not-so-evil plan.


	2. I scream, you scream, we all scream... what do we scream for again?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony enacts his not-so-evil plan, and Peter enacts his own, well, i guess you could call it a plan. of sorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhfadsdhgsfadhgsd  
> I am very tired but I finally got this all written!

To say Peter was nervous would be an understatement. A horrible understatement.

He was terrified.

Spending the morning in an anxious haze wasn’t exactly ideal, but every time his thoughts drifted back to the small red box in his bag he could feel his heart beat just a bit faster. His friends sitting beside him at the small cafe table definitely noticed his jumpier than usual behavior.

“Hey Peter, you good? You’ve been kind of weird since we got here.” Ned asked, quickly followed by Mj. “dude, your knee is literally shaking the whole table.”

“Shoot, sorry guys,” Peter grimaced, stilling the offending limb, “I guess I’m just a little worried.”

“About….what?” Ned pressed.

“Well, I might’ve gotten Mr. Stark something, since I’m going to the lab later, and it’s, y’know, today.” He admitted, blushing as his friend gaped at him.

“You’re shitting me,” MJ exclaimed, dropping her sketchbook to lean forward, “You have to show us now.”

“Yeah!” Ned chimed in, seeming to find his voice.

“Alright…” Peter sighed, scooting his coffee to the side to place the box on the table, “but don’t make fun of me.”

“No promises.” MJ smirked as he carefully unwrapped the package. Paper removed, he unfolded the cardboard and set the mug in front of his friends.

“Bro, you got Iron Man a #1 dad mug?” the boy beside him breathed. MJ covered her mouth and absolutely cackled. Peter didn’t even know she could cackle.

“Ughh, I knew it was too much! But it’s the one he said he wanted.” He lamented, burying his face in his hands.

“He told you he wanted it?” Ned snorted. He was not doing a very good job of controlling his own laughter.

“Well kind of. At least, he made a joke about it, and I figured it’d be funny, or, or, kinda nice to get it.” The teen groaned. “He’ll probably just think it’s weird though.”

“For the record, I think it’s great. He will definitely love it. Even if it is a little on the nose.” MJ assured him, managing to regain her vaguely indifferent tone. Peter looked between the mug and her sketchbook thoughtfully.

“Actually, could I borrow your red sharpie for a second?”

* * *

Peter shifted on his feet, scanning up and down the busy street for any sign of the familiar black SUV. Ned and MJ left almost twenty minutes ago, so whoever was picking him up should’ve been here by now. Happy was always on time, and even Tony was never this late, so it was beginning to worry him. 

Did he say anything about a change of plans? Was he even supposed to have his real-not real-real internship today? If he did get the dates mixed up, how was he supposed to give Tony the gift, and at that, did he even want to at this point? Maybe the universe was saving him from a load of embarrassment.

He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when an obnoxiously orange Audi came screaming around the corner, running a yellow light, and came to an abrupt stop at the curb in front of him. The driver’s door opened a fraction, and out popped the head of the one and only Tony Stark, who grinned ear to ear and waved wildly.

“Hey Pete!”

The teen stared wide eyed at his mentor, along with a handful of bewildered pedestrians.

“Well? Are you coming? Get over here!” Tony hollered, then slid back into the car. Peter darted to the Audi, ignoring the audience, and practically jumped into the passenger seat.

“How was your brunch date, kiddo?” The man asked, shifting gears and peeling out onto the street the second Peter’s seat belt was fastened. A few ornery honks greeted him, but Tony didn’t seem to notice or care.

“It wasn’t a date! But, uh, it was good.” Peter said, rolling his eyes. He was suddenly very aware that he had spent so much time laboring over the gift itself, he had completely glossed over the giving it to him part. “I thought you and Happy only drove the black cars when you picked me up. What’s up with this?” 

“You know me,” Tony sighed dramatically, “I got tired of those boring ol things. Plus, I know you’ve been eyeing this baby every time we drive past it in the garage.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that. But actually, uh, Mr. Stark, there was something I wanted to-” The boy was suddenly cut off by the rather loud noise his stomach decided to make.

“Damn kid!” His mentor barked out a laugh as Peter’s face flushed pink, “I take it you’re hungry?”

“Um, yeah actually.” he confessed.

“Good, because I know the perfect place for a post-coffee pick me up.” Tony flicked the blinker and glided into the turn lane.

* * *

As it turns out, Tony’s ‘perfect place’ was an old but quaint ice cream parlor tucked into a street corner a few miles south of the Tower. He did a bang up job parallel parking a block down from the shop, and donned his hat and glasses disguise while Peter grabbed his bag.

“You know you can just leave that in the car, right?” his mentor suggested, but Peter waved him off.

“Yeah, I just figured I’d bring it along anyways.” he shrugged. Honestly he just didn’t want to pull the gift out until he had figured out what to say about it. Tony hummed but didn’t push it any further.

Pulling open the door, they were met with the near intoxicating smell of freshly baked waffle cones and frozen dairy confectioneries. Blue and pink fifties style booths lined one wall, and opposite it a glass display showing off the various flavors doubled as bar seating.

“Whoa.” Peter gasped, looking up at his mentor excitedly.

“What’re you looking at me for? Go sit down!” He laughed as Peter made a beeline for a corner booth. The boy slung his backpack to the far end of the seat and slid in, but before Tony could join him, his phone buzzed. He stopped mid stride and pulled it out of his pocket, glaring in distaste at the caller ID.

“What’s up?” Peter asked, tilting his head as his mentor continued glaring at the screen.

“Sorry Underoos, I need to answer this, it should only take a second. Go ahead and order for me, I won’t be long.” He grumbled, then walked right back out the door.

Peter took the opportunity to pull the box from his bag and set it carefully beside the complimentary menu tray. He stared at it apprehensively, as if any second it would grow legs and run away. And considering all the weird stuff he’d seen over the last few years, it just might. The longer he stared at the neat red packaging, the more he tapped his foot, and rubbed his fingers together, and picked at the hem of his shirt. His nerves had tripled since he stepped into Tony’s car. That simply would not do. The last thing he wanted was for his mentor walking in to find a spider-kid on the brink of a panic attack.

So, Peter took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He needed something calming. Something familiar. It only took him a few seconds to hone in on his mentor’s voice and footsteps a few yards away. He seemed to be pacing just outside the parlor, and Peter happened to catch the tail-end of the conversation.

“What do you mean,  _ mandatory _ ?” Tony fumed, going quiet for a second as he listened to the response from the other end.

“Yeah, Ross, I daresay spending some time with my kid is a valid reason. Kiss my ass.” He growled, and apparently hung up.

The man’s footsteps were quickly making their way back towards the parlor door, so Peter sat up and opened his eyes. He hadn’t really been _eavesdropping_ , eavesdropping, well, fine, he had been, but it wasn’t _like that_ , and he certainly didn’t want the genius catching onto it.

But what he did hear made him wonder. And also maybe have heart palpitations. Did Tony really mean that? And he called Peter his kid. As in, _his kid_. Now that turned the palpitations into Olympics worthy back flips.

But he was suddenly feeling a lot better about the little red box sitting in front of him.

“My apologies, kid, just a wrong number.” Tony said with a smirk that would’ve been convincing if Peter hadn’t been listening in.

“Not a problem!” He replied earnestly as the man slid into the other side of the booth.

“I take it you haven’t ordered yet?” His mentor mused, snatching a menu from the basket. He hadn’t seemed to notice the package beside it.

“You were gone for like, a minute.” Peter chided, choosing not to comment on how it was weird to order this way at an ice cream place at all. “I haven’t even looked at the menu yet!”

“Well get to it, I’m hungry, and I know you sure are.” Tony replied, raising his eyebrows.

By the time a peppy waiter with curly blond hair skated over to them, Peter had settled on a simple four scoop bowl. Just big enough to tide him over til dinner, and try a new flavor.

“Hi you guys, I’m Jay, and I’ll be your server for today. What can I get for you?” Jay chirped, pulling a small notepad from his neatly pressed apron.

“I’ll be having the Rootin’ Tootin’ Float, one part root beer, one part float, and the kid here will be having the, uh, WIWWY Sundae.” Tony read off as Jay nodded and jotted everything down before skating back behind the counter. Peter stared at Tony incredulously.

“Mr. Stark! I said I just wanted a large! Why, why would you order that?”

The WIWWY Sundae, or What-Is-Wrong-With-You Sundae, was an apt name for the dish, because no one in their right mind would order one scoop of every available flavor. Peter had skimmed over it on the menu, but quickly shied away from the nearly eight pounds and upwards of thirty dollars worth of ice cream.

“Relax, Pete, you love this kind of thing,” Tony grinned, “I think I recall you once telling me you’ve always wanted to try every flavor of ice cream.”

“Well, yeah,” the kid huffed, “But I didn’t think it would be all at once. Plus, it’s just, just so much!” His mentor rolled his eyes.

“You should know by now that money isn’t an issue, kid.”

“I do! I do! You’re a billionaire and all that.” Peter replied.

“That, and this.” Tony said triumphantly, tapping a very small sticker tacked onto the menu next to the sundae, that read ‘FATHER-SON DISCOUNT 50% OFF SUNDAY ONLY’

“I know we aren’t, you know, really uh, Father-Son, but for discount purposes it should be fine. Unless you aren’t cool with that, of course, then I won’t say anything you don’t want me to.” He added quickly, glancing away a bit awkwardly.

Peter swallowed, tapping his fingers anxiously on the table. Tony’s suggestion seemed to be about more than just an ice cream discount. Without another thought, he grabbed the box and shoved it towards his mentor.

“This is, uh, it’s for you.” he mumbled, ignoring the surprised look he got in return.

Tony took the package and hesitantly tore away the wrapping, lifting the mug out carefully.

“Kid, I…” He began, but Peter cut him off.

“Sorry if it’s, like, weird or anything but last week you made a joke about wanting one when we drove past that store, and I guess I took it too literally, but I got it anyway and then MJ let me borrow her marker, so I, uh.” he trailed off as his mentor stared wide-eyed at the “#1 Dad” mug, the “Dad” of which had been crossed off and replaced with “Mentor” in red sharpie. Tony cleared his throat and blinked surreptitiously behind his sunglasses.

“No, kid. Peter. I love it.” He said thickly, glancing up at the teen long enough to see him grin ear to ear.

“Really?” Peter asked.

“Really.” Tony confirmed, giving him a smile of his own.

“Well that’s a huge relief, I’ve been stressing about that for days.” The teen sighed.

“What? Are you kidding? I think I’d love anything you gave me. Apart from a heart attack. Or a resignation notice.” His mentor scoffed.

“Hah, well, that’s not gonna happen anytime soon. I just didn’t want it to be too on the nose or something.” Peter laughed awkwardly.

“You couldn’t have gotten me anything better, bud.” Tony said softly.

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, before the rumble of wheels alerted them of their server’s return.

“Okay! I have your float here sir, and I’ll be right back with that sundae.” He said, setting a large glass in front of the billionaire, and looking rather like he’d prefer doing literally anything other than haul a massive sundae while on roller skates.

“Alright!” Tony said, breaking the silence with a cap of his hands, “enough of that, let’s dig in, shall we?”

Peter nodded eagerly, and grabbed a spoon, stealing a bite of the float to his mentor’s halfhearted protests.

“And here we are, with the WIWWY sundae.” Jay grunted as he returned and set a ridiculously large bowl in front of Peter. The glass made a loud _thunk_ as it hit the table. Tony snorted as the teen’s eyes widened comically at the hulking mass of ice cream. “You two enjoy, and I’ll be back when you’re done with the bill!” 

“Whoa.” Peter gaped, poking at a whipped cream tower with his extra long spoon. “How many scoops is this?”

“Forty five.” Tony answered nonchalantly.

“And you know this _how_?” The teen pressed, glaring suspiciously. Tony just took another sip of his float and pointed at a chalkboard across the room, which read “ _Daily Flavors_ :” and “ _Forty Five_ ” in swooping letters.

“Ah,’ Peter said, and scooped his first bite,”Well, here goes. I think I’ll try and guess all the flavors. And maybe rank them, too.”

“You do that.” The man replied dubiously.

As soon as the first spoonful entered his mouth, Peter’s face went through a complicated series of contortions. Initially he seemed pleased, but then his nose crinkled in distaste, and finally evened out into a contemplative expression.

“Are you alright?” Tony asked, clearly amused.

“That one’s weird. It’s like chocolate and… I don’t know. Something else too.” He explained. His mentor grabbed a spoon and tried it himself.

“Irish cream,” He said, a bit surprised,” Irish cream and chocolate.”

“What’s that?” The kid asked.

“It’s an alcohol, which means you aren’t allowed to like it.” Tony replied, to which Peter just stuck out his tongue.

“Too late, it’s really starting to grow on me. I think that one’s going down as an eight.” He teased, taking another bite.

True to his word, Peter did indeed try at least a bite of every flavor, which left him with four pounds leftover, and the beginnings of what would probably be a nasty stomach ache. He’d live though, because Tony assured him there was some antacid at the Tower. He had also decided that Irish Cream and Chocolate was good, but nearly as good as Smores or Scotchy Pecan, which both got solid 10/10 on his list. His mentor, on the other hand, was particularly fond of Butter Pecan, which _wasn't_ because he was _old_ , thank you very much.  


“Are you two about done here? I assume you’ll be needing take out containers.” Jay said as he rolled over, setting down a clipboard with a receipt.

“You would have assumed correctly.” Tony replied, glancing it over and signing it and slipping a few more twenties than was strictly necessary into the clip.”Keep the change.”

* * *

After loading up the remaining ice cream, and saying goodbye to a very grateful and confused waiter, the pair walked back out onto the sidewalk. Peter sighed as they were met with the warm city air, a welcome change after the chilly shop. Maybe not so welcome, on the other hand, was the city smell. 

“If we don’t hit all the traffic, we’ll have a good three hours to work on your suit.” Tony called over his shoulder as he placed the bags on the floor of the Audi. Peter stopped a few feet behind him, and scuffed the toe of his shoe on the pavement. 

“Hey, uh, Mr. Stark? Can I- can I ask you something, real quick?” He muttered 

“Well, of course bud.” His mentor stood and turned to lean on the roof of the car.

“Are we… are we there yet?” He asked quickly, voice barely above a murmur. Tony huffed a tiny laugh and shook his head in disbelief.

“Yeah kid, I’d say- _oof_!” Tony was interrupted by an armful of teenager as Peter practically plowed into him, wrapping his arms around the man and burying his face in his shirt. His mentor didn’t hesitate to return the embrace, squeezing him close and resting his chin on Peter’s curls.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.” Peter mumbled into his chest. He could feel the rumble as the man gave a quiet laugh.

“Anytime. And thank you, Peter.” Tony replied. 

They stood there together for a moment longer, before the genius relinquished his hold on the kid, to Peter’s dismay.

“This has been fun, but we should probably get going if we’re going to get anything at all done on that vibranium thread integration for a certain Spider-Kid.” He said with a wink, and Peter lit up like a Christmas tree. Specifically, a Christmas tree during the Christmas season. 

“What?! Vibranium integration? For me?” He squealed, bouncing up and down excitedly.

“Yep. so if you wanna see how it works, you better get your spider-butt in that car,” Tony laughed, and walked around to get in himself. “Plus we don’t want all that ice cream melting. Especially in my car. Eugh.”

Peter jumped in beside him, already rambling away on his own theories and ideas as his mentor smiled and nodded along. It was safe to say this was the best Father’s Day he'd had in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! It means the world to me, and if you can spare a comment or kudo, I'd be more than delighted to read them!  
> I haven't finished anything yet, but I'll be posting some art for this story, and of the mug in question, as well as a ton of other stuff on my instagram, [@murdock_schmurdock](https://www.instagram.com/murdock_schmurdock/)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you guys so much for reading!  
> Please leave a comment or a kudo if you can spare it, and check out my instagram, [@murdock_schmurdock](https://www.instagram.com/murdock_schmurdock/)


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